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Senior Warriors open with a win

If the Westlock Warriors season opener against the Bonnyville Pontiacs is any indication, local fans will be in for a good year. The senior ‘AA’ club took to the ice at the Rotary Spirit Centre Oct.
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Rookie Westlock Warrior Brett Kampjes plays the puck off the boards while defending against a Bonnyville defenceman during the club’s 10-3 season-opening win Oct. 5 at the Rotary Spirit Centre. The Warriors play two games at home next week against Devon Oct. 11 and Eckville Oct. 12.

If the Westlock Warriors season opener against the Bonnyville Pontiacs is any indication, local fans will be in for a good year.

The senior ‘AA’ club took to the ice at the Rotary Spirit Centre Oct. 5 for their first game of the North Central Hockey League season and dominated the Pontiacs from start to finish, coming away with a 10-3 victory.

“We did exactly what we wanted. It was an awesome, awesome start. We’re feeling pretty good about it because it has been a bunch of years of growth moving toward where we want to be,” said team captain and coach Mike Ivey. “We’re scoring more goals than we usually do. I can’t remember the last time we scored 10 goals in a game.”

Ivey gave accolades to the entire team, but gave special kudos to the team’s defence.

“I think that’s kind of where it starts and we have some awesome goaltending this year too,” said Ivey.

Graeme Harrington was solid in net as usual stopping 24 of the 27 shots that came his way. The Warriors outshot the Pontiacs 49-27 over three periods and scored two power play goals in 11 chances on their way to the win.

Ivey said he has two very skilled goaltenders to call on in Harrington and Jordan Brand.

“Jordy was definitely our guy in the playoffs last year and he’ll be a big part of it again this year, but Graeme has proven in the last couple years how good he can be so we’d love to have them both going,” said Ivey.

The Warriors core is very much the same as last year with the Ivey brothers, Mike and Scott, leading the way along with familiar names like Brett Bujold, Nathan Brown and Brady Ducharme providing their skills to the team. The team also brought on several rookies in the off season

“We have quite a few new guys actually. We got a couple guys from Gibbons, the Kampjes brothers, a couple big, strong farm boys. We also brought in a guy I used to play with at MacEwan named Kelin Hryculk, who got five points last night. You want to bring in a couple new guys every year to mix into your core and just try to get better each year,” said Ivey.

Ivey scored the first goal of the game and the season for the Warriors on a power play and the team didn’t look back from there. By the end of the first Taylor Heck had scored another goal to put the Warriors ahead 2-0.

Zach Mills continued the scoring in the second before Bonnyville netted their first. Hryculk then potted two before Heck scored his second of the game to put the Warriors up 6-2 at the end of the second.

Hryculk scored his hat trick goal, midway through the third, before Brett Kampjes scored his first as a Warrior and Brett Bujold followed up with two of his own to put the Warriors on top 10-2. Bonnyville was able to score a shorthanded goal before the end of the game, but by that time it was far too late.

For the first game of the year, Ivey is satisfied with everyone's conditioning, but there's always room for improvement.

"We're usually a team that relies on our speed and our work ethic so we're going to have to keep improving with that, but that's something that will come. We're pretty happy with the bodies we have right now and what guys are doing," he said.

The Warriors will be back on home ice next Friday and Saturday, taking on the Devon Barons Oct. 11 and the Eckville Eagles Oct. 12. Puck drops at 8:30 p.m. for both games.

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